Jean Smart

Click here to download TV listings for the week of Aug. 5 - 11 in PDF format This week's TV Movies   CBS This Morning Director Spike Lee; Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Reports from the Olympics. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA Good Morning America OneRepublic performs. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Good Day L.A. (N) 7 a.m. KTTV Live With Kelly Colbie Caillat performs.

Click here to download TV listings for the week of Aug. 5 - 11 in PDF format This week's TV Movies   CBS This Morning Director Spike Lee; Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Reports from the Olympics. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA Good Morning America OneRepublic performs. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Good Day L.A. (N) 7 a.m. KTTV Live With Kelly Colbie Caillat performs.

"The Yarn Princess" is, conservatively, a three-tissue movie. And that's for viewers who fight back tears through clenched teeth. Everyone else might stock up with a whole box of tissues. The surprise is that the sentiment, invested on a developmentally slow mother fighting to save her kids from court-mandated foster homes, isn't the stacked deck it might seem. Credit the versatile Jean Smart for that and a good script by Dalene Young, who refuses to mollycoddle or overindulge her material.

Jean Smart, veteran of such series as "Designing Women," "Frasier" and "24" (as loose-cannon First Lady Martha Logan), already has three Emmys on her mantle. The most recent came last year, for her role as Regina, the suburban-queen mother of high-functioning amnesiac Samantha (Christina Applegate) on the just-canceled ABC comedy, "Samantha Who?" Is all this hoopla old hat for you by now? Not at all. Last year, supposedly, I was not a contender. I don't know who makes these decisions.

The pre-interview: Jean Smart (who's probably best-known for "Designing Women") called at 2:30 on the dot. I at first assumed she was phoning from home, but I heard a lot of traffic in the background. . . . "Jean, where are you?" "At a corner pay phone." "Why are you at a pay phone?" "Because I didn't want to be late calling you." "I don't want you to stand there trying to do an interview." "No, no. I'm fine." "Well, if you're sure." "But the thing is, I don't think I have enough change on me."

Another series? No, thanks. Jean Smart swore off after five seasons of "Designing Women." The show was lovely and lucrative, but why play the same character again for years, potentially, when she was flush with TV movie, theater and film roles? "I was having such a good time just sort of doing what I wanted and working when I really felt excited about something," says Smart, who even told her agent to quit sending her series scripts. "But then he called me and said, 'This you have to read.'

Jean Smart doesn't appear to have a mean bone in her body. After all, she's best known for her role as the sweeter-than-sweet Charlene Frazier on the CBS comedy series, "Designing Women." Other TV roles have played off her mild-mannered persona and wholesome good looks. Perhaps it's that image which makes her performance in the new romantic drama "Guinevere" so strong and startling.

Jean Smart, veteran of such series as "Designing Women," "Frasier" and "24" (as loose-cannon First Lady Martha Logan), already has three Emmys on her mantle. The most recent came last year, for her role as Regina, the suburban-queen mother of high-functioning amnesiac Samantha (Christina Applegate) on the just-canceled ABC comedy, "Samantha Who?" Is all this hoopla old hat for you by now? Not at all. Last year, supposedly, I was not a contender. I don't know who makes these decisions.

The woman of a thousand faces swung open the door of her sun-dappled Encino home. It appeared to be Jean Smart, all right--blond, 5-foot-10, bright smile that reminded you of some dairy queen on the cover of an outdoor magazine. But if you've followed Smart's blinding array of TV movie personas, you can never be sure who the real Jean Smart is.

CBS' hit comedy "Designing Women" is now faced with the loss of two cast members and a producer next season, as actress Jean Smart and recently hired producer Janis Hirsch join Delta Burke on the rapidly growing list of former designers. Unlike Burke, who was asked to leave by the series' producers after months of feuding, Smart is giving up her role of office manager Charlene by choice.

Jean Smart doesn't appear to have a mean bone in her body. After all, she's best known for her role as the sweeter-than-sweet Charlene Frazier on the CBS comedy series, "Designing Women." Other TV roles have played off her mild-mannered persona and wholesome good looks. Perhaps it's that image which makes her performance in the new romantic drama "Guinevere" so strong and startling.

The pre-interview: Jean Smart (who's probably best-known for "Designing Women") called at 2:30 on the dot. I at first assumed she was phoning from home, but I heard a lot of traffic in the background. . . . "Jean, where are you?" "At a corner pay phone." "Why are you at a pay phone?" "Because I didn't want to be late calling you." "I don't want you to stand there trying to do an interview." "No, no. I'm fine." "Well, if you're sure." "But the thing is, I don't think I have enough change on me."

Sunday "Inside the Actors Studio" / 6 and 9 p.m. Bravo The Oscar winner who gave an indelible performance as monstrous Hannibal Lecter chats with host James Lipton. Anthony Hopkins says he was "a bit of a loony kid" who became a thespian because he thought "it would be better than working for a living." The first time he heard about "The Silence of the Lambs," Hopkins thought it was "some children's hour sort of thing."

Another series? No, thanks. Jean Smart swore off after five seasons of "Designing Women." The show was lovely and lucrative, but why play the same character again for years, potentially, when she was flush with TV movie, theater and film roles? "I was having such a good time just sort of doing what I wanted and working when I really felt excited about something," says Smart, who even told her agent to quit sending her series scripts. "But then he called me and said, 'This you have to read.'

At the very least, "High Society" has more vitality than "If Not for You," the monotonous buzz of a comedy it replaces in the CBS lineup tonight. And it's somewhat funnier, too, ever so often snapping off bright lines of dialogue worthy of guffaws. Dott (Mary McDonnell) to her 17-year-old conservative son, Brendan (Dan O'Donahue): "I think you're brainwashed by that dangerous gang you run with." Brendan: "Mom, that's the Young Republicans."

The woman of a thousand faces swung open the door of her sun-dappled Encino home. It appeared to be Jean Smart, all right--blond, 5-foot-10, bright smile that reminded you of some dairy queen on the cover of an outdoor magazine. But if you've followed Smart's blinding array of TV movie personas, you can never be sure who the real Jean Smart is.

Jean Smart, in a radical acting departure, hurls herself into the sordid, reckless persona of the nation's first convicted female serial killer in "Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story" (at 9 tonight on Channels 2, 8). You won't believe this is the same Smart from "Designing Women."

Monday through Thursday, Jean Smart puts on a honeyed Southern drawl and becomes the slightly daffy, eternally optimistic Charlene on CBS' "Designing Women." Thursday through Sunday, Smart dons a British accent and becomes Terry, a harried and cheated-upon housewife in Alan Ayckbourn's ultra-funny farce "How the Other Half Loves" at the Tiffany Theatre in West Hollywood. "My date night's gone," laments the actress.

"The Yarn Princess" is, conservatively, a three-tissue movie. And that's for viewers who fight back tears through clenched teeth. Everyone else might stock up with a whole box of tissues. The surprise is that the sentiment, invested on a developmentally slow mother fighting to save her kids from court-mandated foster homes, isn't the stacked deck it might seem. Credit the versatile Jean Smart for that and a good script by Dalene Young, who refuses to mollycoddle or overindulge her material.

Jean Smart hasn't looked back since she left "Designing Women" last year. She hasn't had time. Countless stars have left popular series and immediately disappeared from view, but that hasn't been the case with Smart, who played the Sugarbakers' business manager Charlene Frazier for five seasons. Smart has been working nonstop in features ("Mistress"), TV movies ("Overkill") and off-Broadway ("The End of the Day."). Her latest is "Just My Imagination," an NBC movie on Monday.